1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to attaching device and method of a bumper face covering a bumper beam of a vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Arts
A bumper is mounted to both front and rear ends of a vehicle body. The bumper protects the vehicle body and functional devices such as a lamp by absorbing collision energy when the vehicle collides with another vehicle and an object. Further, the bumper affects an aerodynamic performance of the vehicle and plays an important role in design parts. The bumper has a bumper assembly structure constructed by a bumper beam, a mechanism for absorbing the collision energy, a bumper face covering the bumper beam, etc. The bumper beam is formed by a high tensile steel member in many cases to restrain an increase in weight caused by the strengthened bumper. The bumper face is not arranged as a strengthening member, but is used to cover the bumper beam and make the bumper look more attractive. The bumper face is formed by a resin member light in weight and easily deformed when collides.
In attaching procedure to attach a bumper face to a bumper beam, there is a bumper of a type in which the bumper face is temporarily positioned in the bumper beam by projections (knock pins) for positioning and is fastened to the bumper beam by bolts. In this conventional bumper, the bumper face is mounted to the bumper beam by moving the bumper face in one direction, such as a horizontal direction from a position in just front of the vehicle.
FIGS. 1 and 2 show one example of the conventional devices for attaching a bumper face made of resin to a bumper beam and a vehicle body. In FIGS. 1 and 2, the bumper beam 3 is horizontally mounted and fixed to front ends of left-hand and right-hand front side members 2, 2 of the vehicle body 1. The bumper face 5 made of resin is fixedly mounted to the bumper beam 3 such that the bumper face 5 covers a front face of this bumper beam 3. The bumper face 5 has a beam portion 5a and projections 5b, 5b for positioning. The beam portion 5a is formed on an inner wall of the bumper face 5 such that the beam portion 5a is opposed to the bumper beam 3 and extends leftward and rightward. The projections 5b, 5b protrude backward from the beam portion 5a, facing a front side of the vehicle body. Elongated holes 5d, 5d are respectively formed at upper end flanges of left-hand and right-hand bumper side panel portions 5c, 5c. The projections 5b, 5b for positioning are respectively fitted into holes 3b, 3b for positioning formed on a front face 3a of the bumper beam 3 from the front side of the bumper beam 3 so that a front end panel portion of the bumper face 5 can be positioned both latitudinally and longitudinally (see FIG. 2). The bumper side panel portions 5c, 5c are respectively fixed to lower faces of left-hand and right-hand fender panels (not shown) by tapping screws 6, 6 inserted into the elongated holes 5d, 5d of the bumper side panel portions 5c, 5c. A front upper flange of the bumper face 5 is fixed to an upper face of the bumper beam 3 by clips 7 in plural positions (see FIG. 2). A front lower flange of the bumper face 5 is also fixed to the vehicle body side by clips (not shown) through unillustrated brackets.
It is necessary to improve an external appearance of the vehicle in mounting of the bumper face 5 to the vehicle body 1 that outer panel faces of the fender panel and the bumper side panel portion 5c are arranged to form one continuous face. Therefore, while making a fine adjustment by the elongated hole 5d, a worker is forced to arrange the outer panel face of the bumper side panel portion 5c to be continuously connected to the outer panel face of the fender panel.
However, in the above conventional attaching device of the bumper face, an attaching portion 5e to the fender panel at the rear end of the bumper side panel portion 5c is set to be aligned on a horizontal face. Accordingly, it is necessary for the worker to visually make the fine adjustment in alignment of the outer panel faces of the fender panel and the bumper side panel portion 5c. Therefore, the adjustment is unstably difficult to tend to cause dispersion in face-level adjustment. Thus, it is difficult to stabilize a quality in attaching of the bumper face. Further, as it needs the visual fine adjustment of the worker that the outer panel faces of the fender panel and the bumper side panel portion 5c are aligned with each other, no conventional bumper face can be automatically assembled by robot machines, thus, workability in assembling the bumper face is so bad.